Effects of light isomerization of azobenzene on the structure and function of biological macromolecules is a hot topic of research in recent years. We focus on the transcriptional process of genetic information transmission and study the light regulation of azobenzene on RNA polymerase reaction. We modified 4,4'-dimethylol azobenzene at the T7 promoter end of the non-template strand of RNA transcription and ligated the 4 protection chains with length of 5, 7, 9, and 11 nt. Their photoisomerization ability and light regulation of RNA transcription were explored. It was found that the azobenzene-modified non-template strand DNA template reacted with T7 RNA polymerase to increase transcription efficiency under UV light response. RNA transcripts were designed. The 5 nt length T7NC increased from approximately 3.4% before illumination to 21.4% after illumination, with a 6.25-fold change. Similarly, for DNA templates containing T7NC1, T7NC2, and T7NC3, the RNA transcripts directed by UV light also increased, with the increase efficiencies of 4, 3, and 1.25 fold, respectively. Therefore, the non-templates we designed have the best light control effect on RNA transcription guided by a combination of a 5 base hairpin structure and a template strand. This discovery of the photoactive modification of azobenzene in the template sequence involved in life activities can be used as a future scientific tool and to guide the application of nucleic acid drugs.
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